Sworn Through Swords
by The Guitar Person
Summary: Sparda's twin sons test out their pain threshold. A tiny glimpse into what Dante's and Vergil's childhood might have been like. Rated for Dante's potty mouth and some violence.


**A/N: Short one shot – still got one hell of writer's block. **

"Fuck, Vergil! That fuckin' _hurts_!" yelled the young silver-haired boy, blood dripping across the large cut on his chest, the red drawstring sweater effectively ruined by the razor-edged sword that made the injury.

"Don't be a baby. It'll heal in a second," drawled the other boy, identical in looks but wearing a blue polo-shirt and resting his hands on the hilt of a large katana. He smiled at his twin still sprawled along the grass, watching as the torn skin of the red-wearing child's chest began to mend itself.

Running his hand over the almost completely uninjured skin, the boy scowled at his twin. "Y'know, Mom's gonna kill you if she finds out about this."

The sword-wielding boy smirked and held out a hand which his fallen doppelganger gratefully accepted. "She won't find out about this. You're not going to say a word."

"Yeah, yeah," said the red-wearing boy, rolling his eyes. "Like I wanna ruin her good mood...she's always so happy when _he's_ here, y'know?"

"Yeah. I know," said the boy with the sword, looking deadly serious. "Besides, we _have_ to do this Dante. It's only a matter of time and when it finally happens, we'll be ready for it."

"I get that, alright?" whined Dante, dusting his trousers off. "But doesn't Mom already train us enough? I mean, I'm getting a lot better at the firing range. You should come sometime Vergil!"

"Those _toys_ aren't going to help in a real battle," replied Vergil. "What you need to focus more on is your swordsmanship."

Dante crossed his arms. "Sure, maybe that fucker could teach us if he ever comes to visit us more than once a year..."

"You _know_ why he's always away Dante. Demons aren't limited by location and it's his duty to protect...."

"Whatever," grumbled Dante, cracking his knuckles. "Start cutting -- I think I'm getting used to it."

Vergil sighed through his nose. "You should've brought your sword so we can have a proper duel."

"That big piece of shit? It's taller than me!" yelled Dante, dancing like a boxer. He threw a punch straight at Vergil, who drew fraction of his sword from the scabbard causing the blade to cut into Dante's knuckles.

"Goddamn it!"

"I thought you were getting used to this?" said Vergil with a smirk.

Dante growled in reply and grabbed the blade with his still bleeding hand, pouring his strength into tossing his twin overhead. Vergil didn't expect this however and sailed through the air, landing on his head with a sickening crack.

"Heh, how'd that feel asshole?"

The blue clad boy rose from the ground, his head tilted in an odd angle. He grabbed hold of his chin with one hand and his temple with the other before twisting sharply, resulting in a loud crack.

"Feel _what_?" he drawled, a challenging smile on his face. "That was nothing. I thought you'd be more of a challenge."

Smiling wickedly, Dante thumbed his nose and launched punch after punch at his smirking twin. Vergil bobbed and weaved through the attacks, before finally catching Dante's fist with his hand and cutting him across the chest once again.

"That didn't hurt _at all_!" yelled Dante, throwing another punch. Surprisingly, Vergil began to blur and disappeared completely before his fist felt any impact.

Turning around, he saw Vergil sheathing his katana once again before feeling a sharp pain explode at his back and a warm liquid begin to drip from his shoulder blades.

"Holy shit, what the hell was that?" asked Dante, hobbling over to where Vergil was still standing. He nearly fell over before his twin rushed forward to catch him.

"Like I said, you should focus on your swordsmanship more," said Vergil, lowering Dante into a sitting position of the ground. "I think I might've overdone it."

"Are you kidding?" snarked Dante, spitting out a wad of blood. "This is nothing."

Vergil rolled his eyes. "Let's just take a break for a while."

"Man, you're really getting strong Verge."

The blue clad boy smiled before taking a seat beside his brother. "I'm an ant compared to Father."

Dante punched him on the shoulder. "Well, I'd rather have the ant who's always _here_ than the giant fucking tiger who's _nowhere_ to be found most of the time!"

"Language, please. Dante, I won't _always_ be here."

Dante laughed in response. "Sure you are! I just gotta look at the mirror from time to time and make a face like I'm really constipated."

Vergil couldn't suppress a chuckle at this. "I'm serious. I wish I _could_ be though. I want to be powerful enough so that even mentioning my name would make sure that no one ever hurts you or Mom."

There was silence for a while as daylight began to dwindle.

"I'll get stronger too, Verge," said Dante, finally standing up. "I won't let anything happen to you or Mom either. I swear it."

He offered a hand at the still sitting Vergil, who grinned and raised his sheathed katana to his twin's outstretched hand. Dante pulled at the sheathed weapon and helped his brother up.

"I'll take you up on that. Bring your sword tomorrow, alright?"

"But I was already kicking your ass _without_ it!"

"Sure."

The banter continued as the two walked home during the night.

_A/N: Made a couple of references to other DMC games here – see if you can spot them all._


End file.
